, one of the critical swing states for president obama andmittromney. bothcandidates held rallies in the commonwealth today. northern virginia bureau chief julie carey spoke to romney in springfield. but we begin with steve handelsman on capitol hill. >> reporter: this was not only in our backyard, it was something unusual, nearly simultaneous rallies by these presidential candidates in the same state. but they looked so much different. president obama's massive and raucous, the one mitt romney staged just south of the beltway, the one i attended, much more laid back, much smaller. some of the romney supporters said they wanted more passion. ten miles from the pentagon, in springfield, virginia, mitt romney spoke to veterans, blaming president obama for the agreement with republicans to slash defense spending if there's no budget deal by january 1st. >> the idea of cutting our military commitment by $1 trillion over this decade is unthinkable. and devastating. >> reporter: romney's polls in this battleground state looked potentially devastating. he's trailing by 3% to 7%. romney b